For the people of Lawrence County, it will mean they can feel more secure at home in the event of a man-made disaster.

For Union Township Trustee Terry Porter, it will mean fewer snowy, pre-dawn treks searching for help during disasters of a more natural variety.

Thanks to a Homeland Security grant that covered the cost of $1,425 per township, all of the county's township trustees now have mobile and base emergency communication radios.

The equipment is primarily earmarked to coordinate emergency efforts in a terrorist attack. But it will also come in handy on a daily basis for trustees like Porter who have depended on less reliable tools in events such as a severe ice storm in 2003, for instance.

"Myself and another trustee were out at 3 o'clock in the morning trying to clear roads and we got stuck," Porter explained. "We had to walk miles to borrow a phone to get help. Hopefully, this will help solve that problem for us."

"We've tried the cell phones, but cell phones just don't work that well out in our township."

Before the distribution of equipment on Tuesday, there was no communication system linking all of the townships together during an emergency.

The two-way devices eliminate that problem and will help trustees be in direct contact with 911 and the Ohio Department of Transportation. In addition, they can use the radios to get updated weather reports and direct traffic, among other things.

"We were able to come up with enough funding to get something the townships have never had," said Don Mootz, director of Lawrence County Emergency Services. "So we got these for every township and they'll be there when we need them."

The radios will not only help the townships, but the entire county be better prepared in the future, Mootz said.

"ŠThey (townships) don't have a communication system, so it's important because they would be a part of the county communications we're trying to set up where all county agencies are linked," he said. "This is something the townships can't do alone."

Porter said he and his fellow Union Township trustees plan to purchase another radio so their road supervisor can have one as well.

While the current federal funding did not provide for any additional radios, Mootz said the next plan of action would be to distribute units to the county's commissioners.

For now, Mootz is just pleased with the present outcome.

"We're really glad to get funding for these. They will make a big difference," he said.